NIAA open to realignment again, seeks competitive balance

Donnie Nelson was in a hurry to catch a flight to Reno for the portion of the boys and girls state basketball tournament being played there. So perhaps splitting the marquee event into sites at opposite ends of the state is not the ideal scenario.

But, as the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association’s interim director said Friday at Cox Pavilion with the pandemic at least temporarily under control, “We’re playing, that’s No. 1. We’re playing a state championship tournament involving north teams, south teams, east teams, west teams. That’s No. 2.”

With COVID having wiped out last year’s tournament, this was the first season for a state event with a 5A classification. To reduce travel and lodging costs, the tournament was split into northern and southern sites that best aligned with the location of the participants.

Next year, per the current two-year trial, 5A, 4A and 2A will play in the south and 3A and 1A in the north. Beyond that, it mostly depends on what happens during meetings Wednesday, when northern 5A schools will express wishes to join southern-based 4A; and March 8, when those wishes are discussed during the next realignment hearing.

“So we’re going to have a good flavor of what the north wants to do and how the south may react and how the realignment committee may look at things all within the next 10 days,” Nelson said.

It’s a complicated process in which the ultimate goal is to achieve competitive balance in all classifications at both ends of the state while ensuring that each has an acceptable number of schools.

“We’re going to figure (realignment) out, but I’m not sure it’s not going to be another two-year trial,” Nelson said. “We knew when we started this thing that it was going to take a number of cycles to really get it to where it’s the best for the majority of schools.

“And I can tell you we’re not going to be there just yet.”

Around the horn

■ The last time I saw him, Lawrence Fan was wearing his trademark vest sans sports coat and asking, as usual, if you had everything you needed after San Jose State’s victory over Boise State in the 2020 Mountain West football championship game at Sam Boyd Stadium.

The longtime Spartans sports information director was one of the MW’s behind-the-scenes legends, and his unexpected death Monday at age 67 will leave a void not easily filled. Having recently witnessed his 500th consecutive San Jose State football game, Fan was a walking, talking encyclopedia of Spartans athletics.

“He was a legend; he was a throwback,” said Ken Korach, former San Jose State and UNLV broadcaster and current Oakland A’s play-by-play voice. “He was so incredibly dedicated and thorough. At a time when sometimes San Jose struggled for media attention, he was dogged.

“Brent Brennan, the (San Jose State) football coach, called him ‘The Lou Gehrig of SIDs.’”

■ You’ve heard of skeletons in the closet? Karen Weitz, taskmaster and architect of Centennial High’s girls basketball dynasty, keeps a skeleton in her office. It sports a full Centennial uniform and resides on a sofa in a dribbling position.

As Nevada Preps editor Jason Orts surmised, those are probably the remains of her point guard from the last time Centennial failed to win state.

■ The College of Southern Nevada baseball team, comprised mostly of former local high school players, has raised $25,280 — 84 percent of its stated goal — in a drive to supplement the nationally ranked program’s budget. Those wanting to help push the Coyotes over the top can mail donations to CSN in care of Yvonne Wade, 303 Water St., Henderson, NV, 89015.

0:01

NASCAR champion Kyle Busch of Las Vegas isn’t widely known for his sense of humor, but when somebody posted a picture to his Twitter account showing a can of Rowdy Energy with the pop top on the bottom and the label upside down, the drink company founder had a witty retort.

“That’s the @HBurtonRacing special edition can,” Busch wrote in reference to a major wreck at last week’s Daytona 500 in which driver Harrison Burton’s car flipped over.

Contact Ron Kantowski at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow @ronkantowski on Twitter.